


The Second Time Around

by heyjupiter



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom
Genre: Background Slash, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-03
Updated: 2014-12-03
Packaged: 2018-02-27 23:28:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2710583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyjupiter/pseuds/heyjupiter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Logan's still learning the ropes of the new timeline, and he's surprised to discover that some old enemies have become old friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Second Time Around

**Author's Note:**

  * For [obstinatrix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/obstinatrix/gifts).



> Thanks to likeadeuce for beta-ing!

 

  
_Think of all the roads_  
 _Think of all their crossings_  
 _Taking steps is easy_  
 _Standing still is hard_  
 _Remember all their faces_  
 _Remember all their voices_  
 _Everything is different_  
 _The second time around_  
\--Regina Spektor, "You've Got Time"

* * *

Logan awakens with a jolt. He's breathing heavily and remembering things that have no longer happened. His claws are out, defending himself from his nightmare. He lets them slide back into his body, still marveling at the bare bone. His body has never had adamantium-plated bones, but his mind still recalls the agony of the adamantium procedure.

Logan still doesn't really understand the mechanics of mental temporal shifting, or alternate timelines, or any of that. But it doesn't matter. Logan doesn't understand how electricity works either, but he uses it.

The first day when he woke up in 2023--the new 2023--had been disorienting. He'd spent a long time in Charles Xavier's office, learning all about the past he hadn't actually lived through. It wasn't the first time Logan had lost years' worth of memories. Or, he supposes, maybe it was, in this timeline.

With assistance from Xavier, Logan has more or less been able to piece things together without causing too much trouble at the school. He's always been a loner. For the last few months, if he's been more of a loner than usual while he tries to figure out if any of his old memories are accurate… well, most people haven't noticed a difference. Marie has, he thinks, but she's too polite to ask.

Xavier hadn't explicitly told Logan not to tell anyone about the alternate timeline, but Logan hasn't. He'd like to thank Kitty for her toughness and her bravery--she'd saved them all just as much as Logan had--but she wouldn't know what he was talking about, and there's no reason why she should have to carry around that kind of knowledge. Not in this timeline.

He's thought about telling Jean. She's certainly guessed that something has happened to Logan, and with her powers, she could know that Logan was telling the truth. But how could he look her in the eye and tell her how clearly he remembered her two deaths? How he'd never be able to forget the feeling of stabbing her to death with the adamantium claws he no longer had?

So he says nothing, and when he wakes up from nightmares like this one, he generally gets up and hits the gym, or watches a late-night infomercial. The school's big enough that his late night wanderings don't generally disturb anyone.

Tonight he makes his way down to the staff kitchen, hoping he'd remembered to restock the fridge with beer. Outside the door, he hears soft conversation, which is a surprise at this hour. He opens the door and sees Xavier sitting at the table with a mug of tea. Across the table from him are Magneto and Mystique. Immediately, Logan slides his claws out and moves into a defensive posture. He's faintly aware that he would look more intimidating if he were not shirtless and barefoot.

"Don't worry, Logan, we haven't touched your beer," Magneto says, sounding just as imperious as ever. He's not wearing a helmet, though, and Logan doesn't sense any real aggression in the room.

Mystique frowns and says, "What's wrong, Logan?"

"I--" Logan says, and stops. Could things be so different in this timeline? She sounds concerned for him. Nothing like the cruel woman he remembers, the one who had taken Jean's form to tease him. He retracts his claws and looks to Xavier.

Xavier says, smoothly, "Logan's been having some troubles with his memory recently. Logan, surely you remember my sister, Raven?" In his head, he adds, _She saved your life in 1973, Logan._

"I… what? Sorry," Logan says. "It's, uh, like Xavier says. Memory problems." He shakes his head and opens the fridge, thanking every god in existence when he finds a six-pack of Molson. _What the hell, Charles?_ he thinks back.

_I'm so sorry, Logan. I've become so used to this timeline that I forgot how different it must have been for you. I'd forgotten they were once our enemies._

"Charles, it's very rude to leave us out of your conversation," Magneto purrs. Logan had wondered, when he first got back, if Charles and Magneto were still a thing, the way he remembered them being. But he hadn't seen Magneto around the school and he hadn't asked. Now, from his tone, and the way he was looking at Charles, Logan figured they must just have some kind of long distance thing.

"So, uh, Raven, what is it that you… do… these days?" Logan asks.

"Erik and I both work for the school. We travel, mostly, and look for new students to recruit. We brought one back tonight, actually. She's already asleep," Raven says.

"We work for the school in an unofficial capacity," Magneto says. "It allows Charles plausible deniability when we do things he doesn't approve of."

"Huh," Logan says.

"What about you, Logan? Are you still teaching history?" Magneto asks, in a way that suggests the concept amuses him greatly.

"No, I'm, uh. Uh. I just got back from an alternate timeline?" Logan says, at the same time that Charles says, "He's on sabbatical."

"Yeah, that," Logan says.

"Did you just say you got back from an alternate timeline?" Raven asks.

"Uh…" Logan says.

"He's drunk," Charles says.

Raven laughs aloud, then trails off. "Oh, you're serious? C'mon, Logan would have to drink 100 beers to get drunk enough to think he'd time traveled."

Logan swigs his beer and says, "Yeah, it's pretty weird. In the timeline I remember, you're, uh, pretty evil, though."

Raven looks at him closely. "This is seriously not a prank of some kind?"

Charles sighs. "No, I'm afraid not. Logan has recently returned from a trip to 1973, which prevented a dark future and saved all of our lives."

"You're kidding. _This_ is the good future? Where mutant teenagers are still twice as likely to be homeless as those without the X-gene?" Erik asks.

"Uh, yeah, because in the bad future, giant robots hunted us all down and killed us all," Logan says.

"The Sentinels, you mean?" Erik asks.

"Uh.... tell me how _you_ remember the Sentinels?" Logan asks.

"Large, unsophisticated metal robots that were no match for my abilities and which have forever tainted Nixon's legacy," Erik replies with a perfectly arched eyebrow.

"Oh. Okay, yeah, so there haven't been more of those since 1973?"

"Of course not. Not even the most bigoted politician would risk such a huge PR misstep."

"Well, in the other timeline… they would, and the Sentinels just got more powerful. Better at finding us. And killing us. All of us." Logan finishes his beer and gets another one. He sits back down and narrows his eyes at Erik. "You still wrapped me in rebar and threw me in the river to drown, right? That happened in this timeline?"

"Ancient history, my dear," Erik says.

"You remember that?" Raven asks.

"Yeah."

"But you don't remember who pulled you out of the river?"

"No… I think that was… I think the time change must have happened before that. I… I'm not sure."

Logan clearly remembers the pain of the metal piercing his body, of the weight of the Potomac River crushing him. It makes routine appearances in his nightmares. But he doesn't remember how he got out of the river, although he obviously must have gotten out eventually.

"Raven pulled you out of the river, Logan," Charles says gently. "She had been impersonating William Stryker, so she could liberate the other mutants he'd been experimenting on."

"Stryker," Logan repeats. "You--wait. What happened to the real Stryker? In this timeline?" He's realizing that there are important questions he hasn't gotten around to asking Charles yet.

"He was killed in a training exercise, officially," Raven says. "Unofficially, when I freed the mutants he'd been holding in his facility, he came after one of them with a gun. He made the gun blow up in Stryker's face."

"So… he's dead."

"Very dead," Raven confirms. Her yellow eyes are watching Logan closely. "So you really don't remember anything since 1973?"

"Well… I do. But just not _this_ 1973."

"And you don't…" she trails off and looks at him sadly. "The way you looked at me, when you first came in here? You looked like you _hated_ me."

"Well, uh… in the other timeline… I guess I kinda did. The other you. I don't--I guess I don't know this you."

Charles thinks to him, _Remember, just because someone stumbles and loses their way, doesn't mean that they're lost forever._

"You're very good friends in this timeline," Erik says. "I'm not quite sure what she sees in you, to be honest."

"You seem about the same as I remember you," Logan says. Erik smiles, as if it had been a compliment.

"Charles, why don't we go off to bed and let these two catch up on old times? Or new times, I suppose," Erik says.

Logan glances at Charles. Charles tilts his head at Logan and thinks, _Truly, Logan, you can trust Raven in this timeline. But I'll stay here with you, if you'd prefer._

Logan shakes his head slightly and says, "Good night." He can smell hints of the arousal Erik and Charles both feel, and he'd rather they take that to the bedroom.

They leave, and Logan asks Raven, "So, uh, you want a beer?"

"God, I thought you'd never ask," she says. "It's the least you can do after forgetting about how nice it was of me to save your life."

He hands her one and says, "On the other hand, I think I also saved your life, since, if I understand things correctly, I saved this whole timeline."

She raises the bottle to him and says, "I guess we're even, then."

"I'll drink to that," Logan says, clinking his bottle to hers.

She takes a long sip and says, "Yes, but Logan, you'll drink to anything."

"Hmm. Guess that's true in any timeline," Logan says. Raven laughs, as if they were old friends, which, it seems, they are.


End file.
